A few Good Creative Men
June 8, 2010 by Steve@316 · Leave a Comment
Dropbox is the simplest, coolest, BEST file storage/sharing/synchronization tool I’ve ever used!
February 4, 2010 by Steve@316 · Leave a Comment
Just spent most my afternoon getting everything ready, cleaned up, backed up, etc. for my big move to Dropbox. So far everything has worked perfectly and it is much better than any sync/backup software I’ve ever used. You can work right in the Dropbox, so NO more carrying my external drive back & forth to the office and I’ll NEVER have to turn around and go back because I forgot my drive!
I had one client already using Dropbox so after I signed up, they just shared their folder with me and voilà it shows up in my Dropbox! I also have a partner in another big project and I will just share a folder with him.
If you need access to your files from multiple computers or collaborate with others, you have to check out Dropbox!
Oh ya! Thye have an iPhone app! Already on my iPhone!
The CORE Theme for WordPress – 20 themes become one!
September 17, 2009 by Steve@316 · Leave a Comment
Many of the websites I design have a lot going on in the way of graphics so when I first launched this blog I wanted something less. A simple clean blog design, but I couldn’t find any themes I liked. Although I have been using StudioPress Themes on all my client work over at 316 Design I was looking for something simple that I can easily change when I get tired of the design. Introducing the CORE Theme from Brian Gardner founder of StudioPress. The CORE Theme has been released and within about 30min after download, I’ve styled it for now how I wanted it and I’m using it on this blog. Eventually more styles will be released and that’s one of the really cool features of this theme. “one theme folder with many stylsheets inside… the intent is for a user to simply select which style they want to use in the theme options page. They’ll still have the ability to customize the stylesheet in the theme editor section of the dashboard as well. So just like that, 20 themes become one.” How cool is that!?
Read more about the new CORE Theme, checkout the demo,Or, download it for yourself.
Hand-Drawn Designs
July 28, 2009 by Steve@316 · Leave a Comment
It seems we are seeing an increase in the “hand-drawn” design technique being used in almost all areas of design from print & web design to Font designs. Some of them I don’t really care for, but others are very well thought out and work well. I have a couple projects with a new client in which this technique maybe a great match. Keep an eye for some screen shots of the work or better yet subscribe via RSS. Here are a couple great resources that the folks over at WebDesignDev on the this technique used in web design and in font design. BTW – The fonts are available for FREE download.
Video from Jeff Bezos about Amazon and Zappos
July 22, 2009 by Steve@316 · Leave a Comment
Pretty cool video from the founder of Amazon.
Four simple ideas…
A true community amongst WordPress theme competitors
June 29, 2009 by Steve@316 · Leave a Comment
When I came to the WP (WordPress) community sometime in ‘08 I quickly learned about StudioPress (revolution), iThemes, Press75, Woo Themes and the communities surrounding them. So far I have only done business with StudioPress and a couple of their recommended designers/developers and have all good things to say about them. It was a breath of fresh air to work with a great software, WordPress and a welcoming community of developers around it. If you are not currently using Wordpress for your websites/blogs, you should look into it. If you are looking for quality premium themes to use with WordPress, you don’t have to look further than the ones mentioned above.
Check out this post from Brian Gardner (owner/entrepreneur – StudioPress) on the “True community amongst WordPress theme competitors..” and his notification to them of an unfortunate fraud discovery.
Steve
A new logo for 316 Design
June 22, 2009 by Steve@316 · Leave a Comment
I know the category “Web 2.0″ is almost a thing of the past, or should I say, and really in my opinion, has become the new standard. When “web 2.0″ was becoming popular, we saw a whole flood of cool logos created, launched and categorized as Web 2.0. Here are several links to some great collections. If your looking for some Web 2.0 inspiration, check out the links below.
http://fontfeed.com/archives/the-logos-of-web-20/
http://blog.jungle8.com/2007/05/29/web-20-logos-trends/
On that note, when I was considering a new logo for my design company, I wanted to incorporate some of that web 2.0 look. I really like the clean, single font typographical treatments and simplistic iconography you see in some of the logos. But that style is not really relevant to most of the markets we specialize in and I rarely get to use it.
Another style I have always been a fond of is what’s commonly referred to as “the distressed” look and although the distressed look has been around for a long time, referred to sometimes as trendy, I think it will be around for a long time in various forms. With these two things in mind, I set out to design a new logo for our upcoming re-branding and relaunch.
Will our logo be around without change like IBM, apple, coke, ect.? I doubt it. But when you cater to niche markets and industries where relevancy is key, I think it’s crucial to stay in touch with the design community and abreast of all the latest design styles and make changes accordingly.
Although I doubt you’ll ever get anyone to admit their logo is “trendy”…
Here are some of the early comps and the final as will be seen on our website and all business collateral soon…. For now.
The Final Version
I’ve been busy designing, building and launching some new websites
June 19, 2009 by Steve@316 · Leave a Comment
We’ve been pretty busy over at 316 Design the last couple of months designing, building and launching 11 new websites. Sometime last year I started using WordPress and to say it has been great would be an understatement. WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. All but one of the 11 websites are built using WordPress as a CMS. In the time it used to take using the old system (B4 WP) to get one or two sites from design to golive, we’ve designed, coded, and launched 10! The future with WordPress looks VERY promising. I hope to develop our own Premium Themes very soon and have some of them available to the public.
I have a new design for the 316 Design Business site as well (built on WordPress!) and it is currently in development. Unfortunately because of other “paying” work, the final touches and launch has been delayed,.. So I’ll have to stick with the current one for now. I had hoped to save all this new work for the new site but I’ve had some recent inquiries and potential new clients ask to see some of my current work. Well I just can’t wait any longer so I’ve gone ahead and added all 11 new websites to the 316 Design Website Design Gallery. Feel free to visit and take a look.